Shinjuku Photos

 

Going into the park.

 

In the park.

 

We saw some snow flurries at the park, but still many things were blooming.

 

On the edges of all the parks in Tokyo are the skyscrapers.  

 

Sam is in a house built for one of the emperor's sons by Japanese living in Taiwan before he got married. It is no longer a house, but an open building from which to view the park.

 

In the emperor's son's house.

 

Do NOT pick those animals!!!!

 

In the French garden--these are called the stand of "plane" trees.  Hmmm.

 

The plane trees are sort of craggy and jaggedy as viewed in winter!

 

Benched.

 

Some of the trees had on their winter coats. The Japanese way of wrapping tons and tons of trees is very interesting. And, perhaps not all that cost-efficient!

 

Sunset as seen at 4:00.  The sun is essentially down before 5:00.  It is a short day.

 

Leaving the park. It closes at 4:30 (I guess to prevent people from becoming lost in the park after dark).

Japan in Winter

Tokyo is a big city, but much of the city is up.  In other words, for the largest city in the world, it is remarkably walkable because instead of being spread out in a patchwork of little homes and shops, it has grown up in skyscrapers and multi-story apartments (with shops often on the ground level).  Many of the places we used to take trains to get to we have found we can walk to almost as easily (and with little more by way of walking!). 

Last Sunday, Sam wanted to visit a little antique shop we discovered by accident (it has all sorts of little Buddha statues and old watches and compasses and stuff from all over the world that travelers have had to have and then discarded).  So, we walked up there and then just kept walking. We found a cute little Turkish restaurant--the Turkish restaurants here are always very cheerful and fun.  I don't know if it is because immigrants here continue to visit their homeland every year or what, but the restaurants (Turkish, Italian, Korean, Chinese, whatever) seem to retain more of the feel of the home country than those back in the states.  Interestingly enough, this little restaurant turned out to be owned/run by the father of one of Sam's schoolmates (you'll recall that he attends the Turkish school!).  So, we were treated very nicely, staying well over an hour and half drinking Turkish tea (Sam had 3 glasses) with tiny sugar cubes and eating free Turkish ice cream (Turkish ice cream is very sticky--I think it must be made with honey or something).  Then, we decided, despite the bitter cold, to keep walking. We ended up at Shinjuku Park--sort of a Central Park of Shinjuku.

We were at first very reluctant to pay the 300 yen (50 for Sam) to enter the park. After all, it was really cold and what would there be to see in winter in a garden?  But, we were already there, so.... Anyway, it turned out to be really lovely.  Shinjuku Park was a testament to the fact that Tokyo is a city for all seasons.

I will have to post the photos tomorrow, though. I am out of storage space and must cough up $5 for more!

Kamakura Daibutsu

Following up on our Thailand Buddha theme, we went to Kamakura last weekend to see one of Japan's Daibutsu (Great Buddhas).  Kamakura is a small town near the sea about 50 minutes by train from Tokyo.  We enjoyed Kamakura for a number of reasons.  It was lovely to be in a town with houses (rather than apartments) with that small town feel to it.  Kamakura also has many, many temples that are lovely.  For your viewing pleasure, here is Kamakura:

 

We paid 300 yen to go into this temple complex.  Here is Graham looking cute.

 

Temple building.

 

One of the Buddha areas.

 

My boys at the temple.

 

You will note how much more plain and austere the Japanese temples are in comparison to those of Thailand. Here there is little by way of glitter or glassy glitz.  The temples are very quiet, mostly made of wood, and have much more simple decor.

 

An interesting tree in the Buddha garden.  (there are many Buddhas here that people leave coins to--I assume the Buddhas represent different things--like good luck in childbirth Buddha, good luck in life Buddha, teacher Buddha, etc.)

 

Melinda by the icy pond.  It was covered in algae but had a skim of ice on top.

 

We climbed up to see a "national treasure" at the temple complex. We are still not sure exactly what the national treasure is as we could not read any of the signs. But, it might have been a large bell on top of the hill.  This view was our view looking down over part of Kamakura from where we ate lunch.  We ate lunch outside at the temple "snack bar." Sam and Sid had red bean soup and tea, Graham and I had mochi stuff and tea and Japanese orange juice. The mochi stuff is cooked rice pounded down into a peanut butter like substance then covered with some sort of rice dust.  It was not good.  Interestingly, even though it is very cold (frosty here in Japan), the oranges are ripening on the orange trees. These taste a bit like tangerines. The juice is sort of sugar water with some rounds of Japanese orange rind tossed in the bottom.  

 

The Kamakura Daibutsu.  He is quite large, made of copper, and has had a rough life.  The Buddha was created several hundred years ago and originally was covered. But, the first cover came off (I think that time was a storm), was covered again several times but each time the house was destroyed (earthquake, tidal wave).  Yes, the Buddha was washed over by a freak tidal wave at one point and he survived but his house did not. Now, he is no longer covered. For 20 yen (about 30 cents) you can go inside the base of the Buddha. I did not but Sid and the boys did.  Evidently there was not much to see and it was dark, but the Buddha earned 60 yen from letting them inside!

 

Again, notice the material used here--copper--rather than gold or brightly painted wood as the Thai Buddhas were. The Daibutsu is very Japanese.

Sumo pictures as promised

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that the four of us had the opportunity to go to Sumo. I always thought (before coming to Japan) that Sumo wrestling happened all the time. In fact, Sumo, like American sports, has seasons.  About 3 times or 4 a year there are big Sumo events. Also like American sports, Sumo is not untouched by corruption.  A few years back some of the matches were fixed and Sumo really sank in popularity.  We found Sumo to be quite interesting--maybe even more so because many of the best Sumo wrestlers are not Japanese.  You also see Russians, Mongolians, and other nationalities competing. 

 

At the beginning and again at the end there is sort of a Sumo parade in which the wrestlers walk around the ring.  At the end, the sponsors of the event have big flag ads which are walked around the ring. (Just before the final round)

 

The emperor's box seen from our nosebleed section.  The emperor and empress did make an appearance for about the last hour of the event. (We were there on the first day of the Sumo tournament)

 

Preparing for the emperor's arrival.

 

The emperor and empress from afar.

 

Sumo wrestlers. The object is to push your opponent to the ground or out of the ring. The man in the kimono is a "referee" or judge.  Sometimes the Sumo wrestlers fall on the spectators on the mats below. We saw this happen a couple of times. The seats near the ring are highly prized, but also very non-western. They are boxes (roped off) with four little pillow mat things each.  So, four people per box sitting cross legged on on their knees the entire time. The entire time can be four or five hours or more--so a tough position.

 

A common Sumo view.